From The Onion
ASADABAD, AFGHANISTAN — Fears of possible terrorist attacks have led organizers of the Sept. 27-30 al-Qaeda International Convention to take unprecedented security measures, sources reported Monday. "There are concerns about a possible attack, and we are responding by heightening security," al-Qaeda chairman and convention organizer Khalil al-Hamada said. ....
With Afghanistan's first nationwide elections slated for Oct. 9 and the U.S. general election three weeks later, the convention falls during a crucial time for al-Qaeda. "More than 3,000 people are slated to slip across the border to attend," al-Hamada said. "While delegates were selected from within the ranks of known violent extremists, there is no such thing as 100 percent security, unfortunately. In this day and age, organizers of any high-profile event cannot be too careful."
The party plans to move weapons stockpiles to undisclosed locations, and to post armed security guards at known tunnel entrances. Only those carts operated by officials with permits will be admitted below ground, and the cavities of any animals brought to the convention will be searched. Additionally, attendees will be required to provide papers confirming their identities, and their names will be checked against a list of known al-Qaeda operatives. ...
Metal detectors will be set up in major entryways throughout the convention, and any firearms will be confiscated, inspected by security officers, and returned to their owners, who will be forced to swear that they will only fire their guns in celebration. Larger explosive devices will be confiscated and returned before the convention's closing ceremonies. To this end, Afghanistan's sole surviving bomb-sniffing dog will be called back into service.
Al-Qaeda members said they first recognized the threat of terrorist attacks in June, while discussing the possibility of bombing the Fleet Center in Boston. The organization's requests for support at its own convention were denied by both the Afghan military and local police, however, forcing al-Qaeda to develop its own security plan.
"We'll be employing some of the best and newest technology available," al-Hamada said. "This includes hundreds of top-of-the-line closed-circuit cameras, Lifeguard handheld metal detectors, and armored plates to line VIP sections of the caves. We've also kidnapped some of the top minds in security and counter-terrorism, and our clerics are currently grilling them for tips."
Added al-Hamada: "In addition, we will not allow women at the convention, as they are deceivers who cannot be trusted." .....
Despite fears, al-Hamada said that the convention "will and must go on. Fear of the unknown is the terrorist's best weapon," al-Hamada said. "If al-Qaeda does not stand firm in our resolve, then the terrorists will have already won."
The al-Qaeda International Convention will open Friday with a keynote speech from Zell Miller, the Democratic senator from Georgia who raised hackles by throwing his support behind al-Qaeda during this year's election.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
09/22/2004 2:14:18 PM ||
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Did Aljazeera hire Mike Moore to cover it? Inquiring minds want to know...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/22/2004 10:01 Comments ||
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This guy is a muslim convert too. I would take everything he says with a grain of salt since he is another one of those people who say that there is a "real" islam which happens to be the one he believes in and a "false" islam which is what any muslim who believes differently believes in.
This guy is a Sufi which means that they practice a natural way of getting high through physical exertion etc and then they call it getting close to God. Again, this is supposedly a more "spiritual" way of life. Whatever.
Mark this guys name. He doesn't like to admit he's a muslim and rarely mentions it in his columns on islam. But he is on the record confirming his conversion and his conversion story can be found on the web. He's a real sneak.
why so down on Schwartz? Apparently you have read his previous writings and know he's a convert. I have done the same, but, IMO, he doesn't need to reveal this fact in everything he writes. Anything he's written that has favored Islamofascism? Not at all.
Rather, he presents quite correctly a consice history of the Magic Kingdom and shows why it is ridiculous to consider the whole place a holy soil, thus debunking OBL and Buchanan.
Posted by: chicago mike ||
09/22/2004 13:26 Comments ||
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#6
No...but it ought to be hole-y courtesy USAF, USMC, USN 1000 lb and 2000 lb bombs, and MOABs.
#7
I dont see it as being any more holy that Jerasulem, but the Islamic gang doesnt quit fighting there. So why should we bother. Take the fight to Berlin (oops Ryadth)
#8
Meanwhile, Saleh al-Fawzan, a senior member of the Wahhabi religious bureaucracy, defended the present ban against religious rights for non-Muslims in the kingdom by quoting a hadith (oral comment) ascribed to the Prophet Muhammad. "The prophet said there should not be two religions in the Arabian Peninsula," Fawzan said.
Don't people wince anymore when they blat about with such transparently self-serving aphorisms? Once upon a time most people felt at least somewhat ashamed to interpret reality in such a lopsided fashion.
Most theological fanatics usually insist that their's is the "one true faith" and the only one that should be practiced in it's region of origin. The hallmark of more mature and enlightened religions is that they do not suffer from the eggshell ego of feeling threatened by the mention, presence or practice of other faiths in their midst. This one essential flaw of fundamentalism, in all its forms, should be a thunderous warning to intelligent people that whatever belief system is parading around with such demands of exclusivity is the most brittle imaginable.
Al-Qaida's cell in Saudi Arabia sees young men as easy prey who can be persuaded to have sex stay in the organization with threats, two repentant militants said in confessions aired Tuesday night on national television.
Not that the old men are all that resistant to the siren song.
Saudi television's Channel One aired what it called "Special Facts from Inside the Cell," a documentary featuring the confessions of terror suspects Khaled al-Juwaiser al-Farraj and Abdul Rahman al-Roshoud. Al-Farraj was arrested in January after a raid on his Riyadh house that left six security agents dead. It was not immediately clear when al-Roshoud was arrested, but he is believed to be a relative of Abdullah Mohammed Rashid al-Roshoud, who is listed as 24th among Saudi Arabia's most wanted men. "Young ones were recruited because they do not have sufficient knowledge of the religion or a wise mind that can tell right from wrong," al-Roshoud said on the program.
All that time in the madrassa and they had insufficient knowledge of religion?
"At that age, they can go all night!"
Al-Farraj said cell leaders terrorized the recruits "by making them feel that they are stuck."
Yep, no job, no woman, no future, that's stuck.
"Once you were in, they would say, 'That's it, you have to remain with us or else you will be arrested or killed'" by Saudi security forces, he said. "Many youths joined the group unconvinced, and I know people who said they wanted out but were afraid."
"I want out, Muggsy! Really! But if I try curtains!"
Al-Roshoud said that the cell leaders would paint a "horrible picture" of how the militants would be treated should they be detained. Neither man said how he had been treated since being arrested.
The picture was too horrible for the teevee...
Their ages were not given, but they appeared to be in their 30s.
That's young and stupid Saudi-style.
The program, viewed via satellite in Dubai, did not give the specific accusations against the two men.
... though they might, in a civilized country, have something to do with the half dozen dead coppers in the driveway...
The show appeared to be a further attempt by the Saudi kingdom to persuade those considering the militant path to instead choose moderation.
"Yeah, don't go blowin' yerself up til we tell ya too, Mahmoud!"
The Michael Moore-inspired documentary showed moving footage of mangled cars and buildings destroyed by various terror attacks as well as images of kittens and baby ducks victims covered in blood. The 13-minute program was followed by a panel of analysts admiring discussing al-Qaida tactics and means to fight the network. Al-Farraj and al-Roshoud said the terror cell included a military wing, a media committee, a religious council and a forging team that made fake identification papers. "If you were not fit for military purposes, you would be assigned for administrative affairs, such as blowing yourself up in a pizza parlor renting rest houses and cars," al-Farraj said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/22/2004 2:04:46 AM ||
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These guys were dumb to get involved with AQ in the first place, but I can see a certain logic in their wanting to leave the org., but being fearful of the consequences from the security forces if they did turn themselves in. Yeah, amnesty upside down with a cattle prod you-know-where.
Posted by: chicago mike ||
09/22/2004 13:33 Comments ||
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The Saudi epitome of young, dumb, and full of ...
Posted by: ed ||
09/22/2004 22:37 Comments ||
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#4
The savings account will not offer interest on savers' funds; instead the bank will trade in Sharia compliant investments and share the profits with savers.
Investing in Paleos and jihad ain't gonna give you any happy returns . . .
Posted by: The Doctor ||
09/22/2004 15:04 Comments ||
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A Russian Army colonel convicted of murdering a Chechen woman in 2000 has withdrawn his application for a pardon, the Russian news media reported Tuesday. There was no indication why Col. Yuri Budanov had withdrawn his appeal - he canceled a similar application in May - but the move lifts a political burden from President Vladimir V. Putin, who would have had to make the final decision in the controversial case. Colonel Budanov was convicted last year of kidnapping and strangling Elza Kungayeva, 18, who he said he suspected was a sniper, but only after a second trial on the charges. The first trial had ended in acquittal, and from the outset the case was subject to political manipulation and public and military pressure. Nationalists had demonstrated outside the courthouse in his support, while human rights activists demanded a harsh verdict against him.
The decision by the pardons commission, coming on a wave of anti-Chechen sentiment after the deaths of hundreds of people in terrorist acts since the end of August, painted the Kremlin into a corner. If Mr. Putin had turned down the request for a pardon, he would have angered the military. If he had granted the pardon, he would have enraged liberals, although they have little public voice left in Russia. In a sign that the Kremlin was looking for a way out of the dilemma, state-controlled television channels gave prominent coverage on Tuesday to a demonstration in Grozny, the Chechen capital, primarily by students protesting against a possible pardon for Colonel Budanov. Even pro-Moscow Chechen politicians have argued against a pardon. Chechnya's new president, Alu Alkhanov, whose election is widely believed to have been manipulated by the Kremlin, praised the students for their opposition to a pardon, the Interfax news agency reported. Mr. Alkhanov noted that the same Chechens who signed a petition against Colonel Budanov's pardon were also demanding punishment for "the well-known terrorists Basayev and Maskhadov," Interfax reported.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/22/2004 4:04:20 AM ||
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Colonel Budanov was convicted last year of kidnapping and strangling Elza Kungayeva, 18, who he said he suspected was a sniper, but only after a second trial on the charges.
That is a lie. The sniper charge against the victim was Budanov's contention from the very start.
This is absurdedly easy to determine. Why did the NY Times writer seek to write this egregious lie?
Colonel Budanov is obviously leaning into the strike zone and taking one for the team.
#2
It seems to me that "only after a second trial on the charges" is going to the first part of the sentence, the one about Budanov being convicted. Clumsy wording, but hardly a lie.
As for murdering scum Budanov "taking one for the team", yeah I agree that Putin is on murdering scum Budanov's team. I wonder how he will be repaid, though. I could think of a dozen ways that the Russian government could make it worth his while to cancel his plead for amnesty.
Seems that Putin doesn't want to *fully* reveal Russia as yet. Probably only after he reconquers Georgia.
#3
Didn't you also say the sniper charge didn't come out until after the second trial, Aris?
And you may be able to read and write the English language, but either you failed to notice the lie or you choose to deliberately ignore it. Which is it?
And Aris, there is no question the writer meant to write what was written; that Col. Budanov came up with an excuse only after a second trial. That is the lie. You told the same lie a day or two ago.
The implications are clear from the phrasing what the writer meant to say.
#4
No, I'm quite sure I *never* said anything about when the sniper charge came out. I'm absolutely certain about that.
Badanov, you don't know the meaning of commas. I'm replacing two of them with parentheses to show you how the sentence in the article is meant:
Colonel Budanov was convicted last year of kidnapping and strangling Elza Kungayeva, 18, (who he said he suspected was a sniper), but only after a second trial on the charges.
These are commas creating an internal sentence that can be removed without altering the meaning of the external sentence. We do study grammar in Greece. In short, the external sentence is "Colonel Budanov was convicted last year of kidnapping and strangling Elza Kungayeva, 18, but only after a second trial on the charges." and the internal sentence is "he said he suspected [Elza Kungayeva] was a sniper".
Once again I don't care if you accept facts or not. But though the wording was awkward, people who know about the function of commas could figure out what was meant. The reference to "after a second trial" makes sense only in the context of the conviction, not Budanov's claim. If it was about Budanov's claim it would have been *during* a second a trial.
#5
That the reference to the second trial concerns the conviction (and not the claim) is *further* indicated by the immediately following sentence that says: "The first trial had ended in acquittal"
#6
Aris: This is supposed to be journalistic writing, not literature. The way journalists are supposed to write must leave no questions about what the writer meant. That was not done here and it is open to my interpretation. You may well study the language but I use the language and I know the language and how journalism is supposed to be.
#7
I already admitted it that clearly this is clumsy sentencing. Ofcourse the journalists are supposed to write in ways that leave no question about what was meant, and this was not done here.
Which means that the writer was an incompetent writer. Not that he was a liar.
But ofcourse you are not content with the idea that the journalist was simply incompetent, you have to claim he's a liar instead -- then you can feel properly wronged and angry at the bias of the eeevil llyyying meeedia.
But I'm afraid that the burden of proof falls on you to show an intent to deceive on the part of the journalist.
I think it's much more reasonable to simply consider him a clumsy writer IMO. But go on repeating whatever suits your fancy.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 12:39:27 AM ||
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He blamed the âserious confrontationâ and âthe lack of trustâ between North Korea and the United States for the impasse ...
BSO, but is it newsworthy? SOS a better description. Me, cynical? Heh. Surely you jest.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/22/2004 1:02 Comments ||
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I'm not sure why we would be expected to trust the NK regime.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/22/2004 1:37 Comments ||
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reap what they sow ...we need to understand that china secretly wanted to nkors to threaten the US with going nuke...now it has backfired..japan joins missle defense and if nkors launch another missle towards japan they will go nuke with south korea following... a massive arms race in SEASIA that China cannot sustain..
Posted by: Dan ||
09/22/2004 10:33 Comments ||
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#4
So if you're so worried, China, tell your CLIENT STATE to knock it off.
I love it when the puppet-master whines about what the puppet is doing.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/22/2004 11:06 Comments ||
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They're worried - about having to increase their subsidy to keep the North Korean government propped up, because the US won't make the annual tribute payments demanded.
#6
ahmen on the tribute...and we can thank GWB for the for this...
one big thank you to clinton and albright for starting the tribute...
Posted by: Dan ||
09/22/2004 12:07 Comments ||
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#7
I love it when the puppet-master whines about what the puppet is doing.
Bingo, Barbara. It's like a ventriloquist complaining about his dummy's stale routine. I'll almost be happy to see South Korea, Taiwan and Japan go nuclear in response to China having bred up this nightmare. Better that all of them didn't join the atomic club, but if China wants to spread around the nuclear manure, it's about time some of it landed on their doorstep.
#8
Putin said Russia and South Korea already had âvery activeâ economic relations but added that he and Roh were also determined âto remove all complications, obstaclesâ that hinder development of bilateral trade ties.
---
Like US?
----
I know how the Chicoms can solve this, make us an offer we can't refuse, like voting w/US in the UN and telling us what they know.
We'll get back to them when their pres calls W w/congratulations.
The Federal Government has confirmed reports one of Al Qaeda's most senior leaders obtained a tourist visa to come to Australia just one month before the September 11 attacks. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, often described as both the architect of September 11 and Al Qaeda's chief executive, could have come to Australia after August 2001. Prime Minister John Howard says he is concerned that the mastermind of the September 11 attacks in the United States was granted a visa. Mr Howard says the system is more effective now as a result of changes made since September 11, and a similar application made now would be detected. He says Khalid did not visit Australia. "I'm told that this person has 24 aliases, at least three visas, and that once the alias was entered into the visa system, the appropriate alert was there and the visa was cancelled and never used," he said.
The Government will not say how long after the attacks authorities were made aware of his alias and his travel permit was cancelled. Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says Khalid gained a tourist visa in August 2001, when the alias he used was not known to Australian authorities. "After the alias become known the visa was cancelled. It had not been used and we have no record of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed having travelled to Australia under his own name or any his known aliases," he said. Al Qaeda experts say Khalid could have been targeting Australia or using this country as a "weak" entry point into the region to plan another attack against the United States. Federal Labor leader Mark Latham says it is a worry that a senior Al Qaeda figure held an Australian tourist visa for about a year before it was cancelled. "I'm not getting into the detail of what he did when he presented at an embassy or whatever but we know from the detail that it's obviously a worry," he said. "These things need to be tightened up so it won't happen again in the future. Learn the lesson and set up a department of homeland security to get it right."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/22/2004 1:54:08 AM ||
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First, a jealous husband shot his wife while she slept and cut her body into pieces with a power saw. Then a suicidal snake dealer threatened to kill himself with his cobras and swung the serpents at police officers. Now Vienna police have arrested a man suspected of using two hand grenades to blow up a woman in the capital's fabled forest.
Sounds like a typical week in Multan or Quetta...
A week of death on a scale virtually unheard-of in Austria has people on edge in this usually tranquil country better known for Mozart than for murder. "It's getting to the point where I'm afraid to leave the house — and that's a completely new feeling for me," said Doris Mueller, a housewife in Vienna. Statistics suggest she has cause for concern: Last year, authorities investigated 257,090 criminal complaints in Vienna, up 21.5 percent from 2002, according to the most recent figures from the Interior Ministry. Things are not totally out of control yet. Austria's murder rate is about 1.17 deaths per 100,000, compared to 5.7 in the United States and 75.3 for the world's leader, South Africa. But Vienna, like any major city, has always had its crime. And the grisly events of the past week have startled even the most cynical residents, along with expatriates accustomed to giving their children far more freedom than they'd ever feel comfortable doing in London or Los Angeles. "There's a very aggressive mentality," said Radek Zampa, an artist who moonlights as a waiter in the city of 2 million. "There's something angry in people's eyes. People, it turns out, can be very dangerous."
Really, Radek? When did that start?
Last week's dismemberment slaying was especially jarring. Police said the suspect, convinced his wife was cheating on him, pumped her full of bullets, used a power saw to cut her body into pieces, then stuffed them into trash bins in neighboring Italy. The suspect, whose name was not released in line with strict Austrian privacy laws, concealed the crime by sending text messages from his wife's cell phone to her mother, saying she was vacationing in Paris and having a great time, authorities said.
"... last week wasn't too good, though."
On Sunday, two police officers rushed to the apartment of a snake dealer after he sent his own cell phone text message to his girlfriend saying he intended to kill himself. When they arrived, the man was draped with two deadly cobras, and after a failed attempt to subdue him with pepper spray, the patrolmen shot him in the thigh after he allegedly began swinging the snakes at them.
"You'll never take me alive, coppers!... Ow!"
One of the snakes bit the man during the struggle, and he remained hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday. Reptile experts called to the scene found more than 60 other poisonous snakes in the apartment, some uncaged and unfed.
"Jeebus, Fritz! The place is a snake pit!"
The grenade killing dominated headlines Tuesday, a day after a magazine reporter tipped to the discovery of a large cache of weapons in the famed Vienna Woods showed up with a federal counterterrorism agent and found the body of the victim, a 39-year-old Austrian woman. Authorities said Tuesday they arrested an Austrian man and were treating the case as a homicide.
Hölmes! How do you do it?
As much as anything else, it was the scene of the crime that agitated many locals: The Vienna Woods are popular with hikers, picnickers and mushroom hunters and have inspired Johann Strauss, Gustav Klimt and other composers and artists over the centuries.
"Schatzi, was der helle ist dis?"
Many people in Austria, where an influx of hundreds of thousands of immigrants has stoked xenophobic sentiment, have already started blaming foreigners for the crime wave. "We've had an increase in imported crime," Interior Minister Ernst Strasser said recently, attributing a rise in armed robberies and other street crime to gangs of Romanian and Bulgarian thugs. Yet all of the people implicated in the past week of violence were Austrians.
"You, there! In the lederhosen! Schtick 'em ÃŒp!"
Locals figured into another bizarre crime that surfaced Tuesday, when police in the southern province of Styria said a 30-year-old man tried to beat to death his 64-year-old mother with a hammer. On Sunday evening, an Austrian burst into a Vienna poker party, gunning down his ex-girlfriend's brother and critically wounding her before fatally shooting himself in a stairwell.
His friends all told him to give the lawn mower back, but would he listen? Neeeiiiin!
Most of the recent crimes were domestic disputes that couldn't conceivably threaten ordinary citizens. Even so, Brigitte Bierlein, vice president of Austria's Constitutional Court, offered some sober counsel to her countrymen. "My advice to people is to spend their evenings and nights in the carefree comfort of their own homes," she said.
Ummm... At home? Wasn't that where the guy was waving the snakes? And the guy sawed up his sweetie? Maybe a better idea would be to go out and have a schnitzel and some bier, go for a walk — No! Not in the Vienna Woods! — and relax.
LÃL, Friedrich!
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 11:30:21 AM ||
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First of all, about the Vienna poker party gunman: "stairwell" is a medical term for what part of the body, exactly? Its just that I don't remember it from any of my several biology classes ;-)
Second, "... a magazine reporter tipped to the discovery of a large cache of weapons in the famed Vienna Woods " strikes me as much more important than a statistically predictable spike in violent crime. The article ignores who stored the cache there, what kind of weapons, is this new or a long-standing practice, etc
Y'all no doubt have a better idea of the questions covered by 'etc' than I do. What say you?
#2
From the article: The tourists have encountered only generosity from ordinary Afghans.
followed later by: "My main object in life is to get Bush out of the White House," said Connie Pencall, a retired teacher. "He is a terrible, terrible man. We are not welcomed anywhere any more."
Can you say cognitive dissonance?
A local soldier back from the war in Iraq said he was beaten at an area concert because of what was printed on his T-shirt...Foster Barton, 19, of Grove City, received a Purple Heart for his military service in Iraq. He almost lost his leg last month after a Humvee he was riding in ran over a landmine. Barton said he was injured again Friday night in a crowded parking lot as he was leaving the Toby Keith concert at Germain Amphitheatre. The solider was injured so badly that he can't go back to Iraq as scheduled. "I don't remember getting hit at all, really," said Barton, a member of the 1st Calvary Division. "He hit me in the back of the head. I fell and hit the ground. I was knocked unconscious and he continued to punch and kick me on the ground." Barton and his family said he was beat up because he was wearing an Iraqi freedom T-shirt...
#1
I've been to alot of concerts, and saw altercations in the parking lot at all of them. I wouldn't expect too many anti-war types at a Toby Keith concert. For all that is said, in the article, there are other explanations that could be told. Mr. Barton could have crossed a drunk guy the wrong way, and was sucker punched. The T-shirt could have had nothing to do with it. I've been trampled in mosh pits, and you just have to expect anything when alcohol is sold in an arena. I hope this kid recovers soon.
#5
The LLL's peace rhetoric is a smoke screen. Everything always comes down to an issue of force or violence with them, the violence of the media-licensed mob, the violence of their terrorist allies and totalitarian heroes, and the violence of the criminal scum they so ardently defend. Payback is needed, in the language they understand. One hundred dope-smoking anarchist fuckheads should get the shit kicked out of them for each incident like this, at a bare minimum. Fascistic, the appeasement mob will say? Bullshit, we aren't talking about shooting hostages here, or cutting their heads off for that matter, just housebreaking some doper punks who have earned every bruise and scratch.
#7
Hmm.... I guess Kerry really was in a 'fighting mood'..... didn't think it was 'contagious'.
Just think this guy almost lost his leg so these idiots can attend a concert without fear of being blown up or taken hostage.
Around here (Seattle WA) I think a lot of Bush supporters don't have bumper stickers and/or yard sign for fear of vandalism as the left engages in their 'free speech'.
#8
I think a lot of Bush supporters don't have bumper stickers and/or yard sign for fear of vandalism as the left engages in their 'free speech'
Remember, the left are carefully trained that vandalism and assault and battery counts as free speech. Remember several years ago "freedom loving" leftists at a university vandalized newspapers of conservative students, and the Weasel-Assed Totalitarian University President said there was no problem because the students were expressing "free speech". A judge disagreed, and ordered the students involved in the destruction to pay restitution for the damages.
I believe this happened somewhere in Pennsylvania.
#9
According to a Columbus police report, six witnesses who didn't know Barton said the person who beat him up was screaming profanities and making crude remarks about U.S. soldiers, Burton reported.
Police said ... the six [] witnesses said Barton was hit from behind.
Barton's mother said she has a message for her son's alleged attacker, who police said ran into the crowd after the incident and was not arrested.
"He needs our prayers, just like the insurgents, because he's a coward," Cindy Barton said.
Seems a leftie must have gotten himself so riled up by hate and Toby Keith's pro-American lyrics that he may have just lost it. The left gets very violent when cognitive dissonance gets to a point where they cannot escape. Its almost a psychosis: they lash out at us because if they turned the hate inward to its source, their core of lies and hatred, they'd kill themselves
Ignore the stupidity of the notion that "women" are part of the "Democratic base" (are "men" part of the "Republican base"?) and read about why Bush will win this election easily: Security moms have displaced soccer moms as the crucial swing voters.
Traditionally, there is a gap between married women and single women, with married women voting more Republican and single women voting more Democratic. This year, Ms. Lake said, the gap between how married and single women expect to vote is greater than it has ever been, largely because of the emergence of what analysts call "security moms,'' who tend to be white, married women who have children and who are fearful of another attack within the United States.
"Security moms'' are an outgrowth of the "soccer moms'' who had emerged in previous elections as important swing voters. But soccer moms tended to live mainly in the suburbs and could vote either way. Security moms live everywhere and are leaning Republican.
In the Times/CBS News poll, married women who are registered to vote were far more likely to say they would vote for Mr. Bush (59 percent) than for Mr. Kerry (32 percent). It would be very interesting to see the voting preferences of married with childrens vs no children and unmarrieds. I'd bet the married with kids break 60-30 for Bush and the childless go 60-30 for Kerry.
Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, said that women over all were "cross-pressured'' this year because they had more confidence in Mr. Bush on terrorism but were skeptical that he would handle the economy better.
"There's a tension among middle-class women who are attracted by Bush's perceived strength on terrorism and concerns about his poor performance on the domestic agenda,'' Mr. Kohut said. "They will be the story of this election: the way women make this choice.''
Mr. Kohut said that in 2000, men voted for Mr. Bush at the same rate that women voted for Mr. Gore. "Now,'' he said, "Bush has more solid strength among men than Kerry has among women, and if Kerry can't match that margin among women, he will lose.''
#3
Seriously, this is another nail in Kerry's coffin. Only when the Dems realize that they have to go hard right on the war will they have a reasonable shot at the White House again. Funny, but (the newly hawkish) Hillary would have more cred on this issue than almost any of the pants-wearers in her party.
#4
Hillary talks a good game now on defense but she's as fork-tongued as her hubby, and if she were to become CINC she'd sell the country out as soon as she could. This lying witch must never be allowed within 10 miles of the presidency.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
09/22/2004 20:31 Comments ||
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#5
Not so sure about that. She's a pretty tough-assed old bitch, and I'd bet that post-Breslan, her view is that a village is less for teaching weaving than for finding terrorist vermin and rip their heads off. Somehow I think she'd be pretty tough going toe to toe with a lying, womanizing thief like Chirac or misogynist fascists like the mullahs. Just my opinion...
YESTERDAY, John Kerry repeated what has become a standard Kerry-Edwards campaign talking point: Saddam's Iraq had "no ties to al Qaeda," or, as Kerry recently told Time, Saddam Hussein had "nothing to do with al Qaeda." These statements are false.
Numerous reports, ranging from those of the September 11 Commission to the Senate Intelligence Committee, have detailed a relationship between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and al Qaeda. In July, the co-chairman of the September 11 Commission, Governor Thomas Kean, stated "there was no question in our minds that there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda." Or consider this, from the memoir of the former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, General Tommy Franks, American Soldier:
"One known terrorist, a Jordanian-born Palestinian named Abu Musab Zarqawi who had joined al Qaeda in Afghanistan--where he specialized in developing chemical and biological weapons--was now confirmed to operate from one of the camps in Iraq. Badly wounded fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan, Zarqawi had received medical treatment in Baghdad before setting up with Ansar al Islam. And evidence suggested that he had been joined there by other al Qaeda leaders, who had been ushered through Baghdad and given safe passage into northern Iraq by Iraqi security forces. . . . [p. 332] And while many al Qaeda leaders had been killed [in Afghanistan], others had sought sanctuary in Iraq. [p. 403]"
People can disagree over the necessity of gong to war to remove Saddam. But they should not deny facts in order to make it easier to sell their particular policy position.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/22/2004 1:59:07 AM ||
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How does Kerry get away with this shit?
Posted by: Capt America ||
09/22/2004 4:07 Comments ||
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#2
Simple, it is a resonance issue with some people. Shitheads would always accept shit by default.
#5
LLL "Talking Points" are never retracted, never retired from the list, never apologized for, no matter how thoroughly disproven. Once a meme is established, it becomes the burden of the sane to constantly repeat the litany of evidence which disproves it... while the loonies move on to new insane memes.
Most talking-head shows now consist of the Dhimmidonk derailing any inconvenient question(s) posed, by tossing in a few loonie memes - and the remainder of the time is spent debunking them and attempting to get back on track. Wasted time, the lot, for they never admit anything, no matter how trivial or how overwhelming the evidence may be.
Dialog, even at the most civil and learned level, has been rendered moot, utterly pointless and deprived of practical value or significance.
#7
This appeared in the Armed Forces Information Service's Current News Early Bird on Monday.
"Rumsfeld told reporters he agreed with Secretary of State Colin Powell about Iraq's lack of weapons or ties to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Defense Department released a transcript Friday of a press conference Tuesday in Fort Campbell, Ky.
"Secretary of State Powell, recently on NBC's 'Meet the Press' said that he found - wanted to set the record straight once and for all," said an unidentified reporter. "There were no weapons of mass destruction and he found no correlation between 9/11 and the former Iraqi regime. My question to you, sir, is do you agree with that statement?"
#5
Jules, it is more straight and easily translated language - it is not nuanced. You can call it weak in the sense of its grammatical and rhetorical effectiveness but not in its message which is direct, surefooted and committed.
Posted by: Jack is Back ||
09/22/2004 9:53 Comments ||
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#6
I think you mistake what I am saying, JiB. I am not interested in nuance either. I am proud of the way President Bush challenged the UN about their toothless resolutions and did the right thing in Iraq despite that cowardly and ethicless body's footdragging.
He had good points in his speech; my disappointment is that he is using their language, not the straight and easily translated language you rightly mention. I reread the text and find it is the polish that bothers me, not the message. Maybe it's a case of too many handlers packaging his case for him?
A month or so ago, I saw a media clip of George Bush when he was Governor of Texas. On this tape, he spoke beautifully! He was to the point, confident, well paced, and convincing. I wish that we could find that George Bush again. He is the only leader in the world with the backbone to expose the UN for what it is today.
Nevertheless, I think he is courageous to go in front of that hostile body to speak at all. It is outrageous they treat our president with such disdain.
#7
GWB's speech spoke in the idealistic terms as when the UN Charter was written. He did not scold them. He reset the bar and polished it up. It, in some ways was a pep talk. It puts the ball in the UN's court without **ahem** humiliation of the delegates. It is a challenge to them to live and act according to the UN ideals.
That said, I have my doubts that anything will be done by that disfunctional body. President Bush said what had to be said. It is up to the UN to respond by actions, or go the way of the League of Nations.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/22/2004 21:56 Comments ||
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#2
Why I'm pissed off at MSM? Why aren't these women on 60 minutes or Russert? Yeah, I know the answer.
Posted by: chicago mike ||
09/22/2004 14:18 Comments ||
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#3
Wonder whether bloggers could set up their own streaming videocasts and do their own interviews... anyone know how much this would cost? Certainly there are enough bloggers with experience of radio, at least (Hugh H), perhaps also TV, who could create a decent alternative to the networks.
EFL - more evidence that the "two Americas" is not a division of rich and poor but of patriots and idiotarians.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Tuesday the United States cannot wilt in the face of the Iraqi insurgency and suggested critics of the war in Iraq were becoming rattled and defeatist... "We can't just wilt in the face of this kind of challenge, we have to meet the challenge," Powell told ABC's "Good Morning America" program.
... U.S. Sen. John Kerry, Bush's Democratic opponent in the Nov. 2 U.S. presidential election, on Monday launched his sharpest assault yet on what he called the Republican president's "arrogance and outright incompetence" in Iraq. Three influential Republican senators criticized mistakes in Bush's policy on Sunday and one, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Richard Lugar of Indiana, cited "incompetence" in the U.S. failure to spend more money to reconstruct Iraq. "The fact is, we're in deep trouble in Iraq ... and I think we're going to have to look at some recalibration of policy," Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said on Sunday.
"It is a difficult struggle that we are in right now. There is no question about it. Insurgencies are tough," Powell said. "But to say that we can't deal with it, this sort of attitude that we are on the verge of defeat, is absolutely wrong. This is the time to not take counsel of our fears and say everything is falling apart."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/22/2004 10:01:29 PM ||
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"It is a difficult struggle that we are in right now. There is no question about it. Insurgencies are tough," Powell said. "But to say that we canât deal with it, this sort of attitude that we are on the verge of defeat, is absolutely wrong. This is the time to not take counsel of our fears and say everything is falling apart."
Thanks for saying what needed to be said, Colin. You really earned your pay today.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned world leaders on Tuesday that international law was being "shamelessly disregarded" and cited the US abuse of prisoners in Iraq as an example of such violations. Speaking at the high-level session of the UN General Assembly, Annan said "no one was above the law" whether in Sudan, Iraq, Uganda, Russia or the Middle East. "Again and again, we see laws shamelessly disregarded — those that ordain respect for innocent life, for civilians, for the vulnerable — especially children," he said. In Iraq, he said civilians were massacred in cold blood, while relief workers, journalists and others were "taken hostage and put to death in the most barbarous fashion."
"At the same time, we have seen Iraqi prisoners disgracefully abused," Annan said, referring to inmates in the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad who were photographed being brutalized by American soldiers. "Every nation that proclaims the rule of law at home must respect it abroad. And every nation that insists on it abroad must enforce it at home," he said. Annan spoke before US President George W. Bush during the opening day of the two-week session attended by 64 presidents, 25 prime ministers and 86 foreign ministers, including Iraq's new interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi.
I haven't seen anyone putting the head choppers on trial. We've put the Abu Ghraib nitwits on trial.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 12:06:54 AM ||
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#4
Kofi Annan has absolutely no moral authority to lecture anyone on anything. He has presided over an organization that turns a blind eye to genocide, theivery, nepotism, graft, bribery and says nothing about the most disgusting and vile shit hole nations as they trample the human rights and dignity of their citizens as long as they bad mouth the USA.
F**k You Kofi, pack up that rats nest and move it to Paris where they think you actually provide some sort of service.
#6
Rule of law embodies the notion that when laws are broken, there are consequences. Under his UN "leadership", there are no consequences for violators who break UN resolutions; he is not fit to be a spokesman for rule of law.
#11
"...international law was being âshamelessly disregardedâ and cited the US abuse of prisoners in Iraq as an example..."
Meanwhile, under Kofi's watch, Saddam filled mass graves and Kofi's son helped deprive Iraqi's of food and medicine. Tonight Kofi will dine on foi gras in one of New York's finest restaurants and contemplate world hunger. Pleeeease, somebody, anybody, move this outhouse called the U.N. from New York to Paris where they won't notice the smell.
Posted by: Tom ||
09/22/2004 14:36 Comments ||
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#12
I cant stand it ....I usually sit here quietly and lurk and read and enjoy the give and take and try to learn something...but I have had ENOUGH!!!
I'm mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!! This dumb fuck has stepped on his di*k this time...I cant stand it one more second..I am sick of this hypocritical bastard....my head is going to explode!!! I better go for a ride...I have hit my limit...AUGHGHGHGH!!!!! out of my way blue haired grannies!!!!
Posted by: Live to Ride ||
09/22/2004 16:02 Comments ||
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#13
Kofi warns US and world to respect rule of law
...except when it come to... ummmmmmmmmmm... certain financial transactions involving oil and former dictators. We'll handle that one ourselves.
Firstly someone needs to get a caluclator and estimate the approximate footage it would take to move everything from the UN building in New York and into containers. Then we need to get a bid on renting those containers from New York to Paris, via ship. We need a definitive bid in US dollars.
Once we have the information, all we need to do is to find the funding to make this happen. I bet we could find it rather quickly, in the way of pledges from conservative groups and corporations.
Then we can start to get pledges on volunteer labor to do the work from the building into containers, and who can organize it. I can donate two weeks and my '98 Chevy S-10. And sicne I am from Oklahoma I bet we can get busloads on men and women willing to go to New York to help.
#15
bad-If it actually came to that, I would be willing to chip in some promo art.
I like the way you think, badanov. Let's make your idea even bigger. It would be cool to start a website/land petition for getting the US out of the UN and the UN out of our pockets and out of our country. That website should be set up with tickler memos to go out to every member of Congress (starting with the more reasonable ones, first to build momentum and power) on a daily basis. I think for it to really hit home with Joe American, it should identify just what a force for mayhem that body has been in the last few years. Cite specifics-the number of deaths caused because of UN inaction in this country, the number of dollars stolen under the UN's nose by that country. Tally up the numbers on the page, show it to good people all over this country, and watch the righteous anger grow. The UN may have been a good thing once, but I really think more Americans need to know how it has decayed since.
It also should be accompanied by ideas for building new international bodies who stand for civil behavior, human dignity, and rule of law.
#17
A better approach would be to create a parallel organization for security issues that would comprise equal numbers of Asian and non-Asian powers: G8 + China + India + Australia + So Korea + Indonesia + (maybe) Brazil. Meet quarterly in New York and promote joint action against the security challenges of this century, esp WMD, Iran and rogue states, piracy on the seas and delivery of WMD in seaborne containers, money-laundering etc.
This would achieve the goal of rendering the UNSC a hollow shell while leaving in place Unicef and the other "nice" UN agencies. In other words, giving us real clout with a collective sercurity body that actually means something, without seeming as though we're taking our marbles home.
#21
ed: I'll willing to rent a bulldozer and push them all into the sea. Let Shamu do the rest.
You're beginning to sound like the Paleos. Flatterpillar, the official bulldozer of those who want to push the UN into the sea(tm)!
Posted by: BA ||
09/22/2004 20:38 Comments ||
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#22
Well if our war in Iraq is just so damn *illegal* as kofi says, then isn't he bound by international law or some such to build a coalition of his own and try to throw us out?
LiberalHawk, Zhang Fei, OldSpook, Bulldog: what do you make of this? This does not happen all the time. It has security implications for Australia. When are we getting a US base to our north please?
Most importantly, is this cheekiness a response to the change of Government? Do the military feel that General Bambang is going to be a lot more aggressive than Megawatti?
Are they going to re-invade East Timor?
This story will be hushed up and spun in the Australian press as our country is always scared of causing a rift with Indonesia: please be vigilant.
Dive boat with two British crew and eight tourists on board was close to the island of Atauro, 15km off the coast of East Timor (in East Timorese waters) when it was approached in a HOSTILE manner by Indonesian warship Kri Hasan Basri. Australian dive-boat operator Mark Mialszygrosz said the 80m frigate came to within 100m of his tour boat. Indonesian naval officers attempted to communicate by radio in english. Timorese authorities have asked him not to disclose details of the message which he described as hostile. The boat was ordered by loud hailer to prepare to be boarded. The skipper ignored and set sail for Dili to the South. People on board felt threatened. The indonesian warship was 200m off the west coast of Atauro, clearly in East Timorese waters.
Posted by: Anon1 ||
09/22/2004 1:11:05 AM ||
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It would be interesting to know if the dive boat was displaying a flag.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/22/2004 1:18 Comments ||
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From www.hazegray.org:
Concept/Program: Large group of ex-East German corvettes, a few of which had briefly served with the West German navy. Although intended mainly for ASW, they are probably used mostly for patrol work, and some of the weapons/sensors may be inoperable.
And raise them one of these...
http://hazegray.org/navhist/carriers/images/usa/cvn65-3.jpg
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/22/2004 1:28 Comments ||
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If shit happens expect Portugal to start his "stone in shoe" diplomaticx efforts
While " the island of Atauro, [may only be] 15km off the coast of East Timor (in East Timorese waters)," it also is pretty close to Indonesian territory (within Indonesian waters). East Timor and Indonesia continue to negotiate over borders and border demarcations, and are still (in some places) only at the survey stage.
That said, the past slaughter of Timorese by Indonesians cannot be excused or forgotten. Nonetheless, the brutal suppression of the Timorese probably represents a backlash against anything even resembling socialism/communism in the area, attempts of Suharto and his cronies to deflect attention from themselves by creating and maintaining national crises, unthinking attempts to impose conformity, unbridled bloodletting kept in check by Suhartoâs authoritarian regime up until he left power in 1998, or some combination of all of the above. Indonesiaâs politicians have long been keenly aware that any move toward autonomy on the part of any subculture/people group could precipitate a cascade of seditionist autonomy seeking that would result in the very dissolution of Indonesia as a nation. Cohesion is king in Indonesia -- and has naturally led to some paranoia and (at times) flat out abusive tactics.
I donât think this incident represents either a return to past oppression, or the military getting cocky over SBY winning the election. I think it is just a border dispute. I think SBY will improve discipline in the military, and also will improve international relations in the region.
#6
Indonesia is an empire composed of the former Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia. It incorporates a real melange of ethnicities, languages and religions. Empires either expand or contract. They cannot remain static. 'Nuff said.
thankyou zhang and phil b, I too think of Indonesia as the Javanese empire. The javanese are aggressive.
I think cingold is probably right, that it's just a border dispute, it did say in the original article that there is still debate over some sea boundaries and that they are squabling over them so it could just be that.
that said, they were only 200 meters offshore, they had to have known they were in Timorese waters, and was this ordered from higher up the chain?
#9
I donât think this incident represents either a return to past oppression, or the military getting cocky over SBY winning the election. I think it is just a border dispute.
I've operated with the Indonesians in the past; they tended to be rather touchy about borders, territory, and foreign involvement (our joint exercise took place in a remote area, and the initial and post-op meetings were on a normally-uninhabited island). It's likely also the same reason they balked at the initial U.S. proposal for coordinated Straits security.
Syria and the European Union have reached an agreement on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that had bogged down an economic association agreement, a Western diplomat said in Beirut. The preliminary agreement, which still needs to be agreed by EU foreign ministers, is the fruit of discussions held during a visit by an EU delegation to Damascus last week, the diplomat said. Syria is the only Mediterranean country in the EU's "Barcelona process", launched in 1995 with the aim of bolstering trade and political ties in the region, not to have concluded an association agreement with the bloc. Libya is not party to that process, but has observer status at some of its meetings. The talks with Syria had been held up by the EU's requirement that all such agreements now include a clause committing both sides against the proliferation of WMD.
We should send baby Assad a video of Saddam's capture, and a copy of Q-man's quote: "I saw what happened to Saddam, and I became very afraid." Then ask if Assad has any questions. That just might take care of the WMD problem in Syria a tad faster than what the EU has accomplished.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 12:46:45 AM ||
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Mark my words: in the middle east, our interests and the Europeans' perceived interests--including the Brits'-- do not converge. Eurabia's on the other side. We must not and cannot expect any serious help from western Europe in containing the nightmare states of the muslim world. It's the makings of a Suez Crisis in reverse, and we need to recognize it in advance of the fire next time.
#6
the us needs to take a pragmatic policy with regards to syria..syria is a small bit player that can be contained by israel and aggressive
US diplomacy...as long as iran is out the picture syria will follow the winners...no need to have a front in syria and iran..as soon as the shit hits the fan with iran the mutual defense pact between syria and iran will fall apart and sryia will fall in line.
Super Hose - what did blair do in Libya? as far as i know blair worked in concert with the US since lockerbie in regards to Libya...just curious..not questioning you..
Posted by: Dan ||
09/22/2004 10:29 Comments ||
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Palestinian security forces know who was behind the killing of three Americans in Gaza nearly a year ago but cannot act against the factions while fighting with Israel continues, a top Palestinian security official said.
"We gotta wait until the Zionists give up."
Describing the killers as "some Palestinian factions," the head of Military Intelligence, Moussa Arafat, told Reuters on Wednesday that the United States also knew who was to blame. Washington's anger at the failure to catch the killers has worsened relations that were already soured over U.S. accusations that the Palestinians had not done in enough to rein in anti-Israel militants. "They know that we are in a very critical position and that clashing with any Palestinian party under the presence of the (Israeli) occupation is an issue that will present many problems for us," said the spy chief, a cousin of veteran leader Yasser Arafat. "The Americans have started recently to understand our position and I expect that this crisis will also be resolved," he said.
"I think the actual words were 'Yeah, yeah. We know all about it. Tell us another one.' So I did."
The three American security guards were killed in an ambush in October when a bomb planted on a main road leading to Gaza City exploded under their vehicle in a diplomatic convoy. As a result, U.S. officials have been banned from visiting Gaza and U.S. aid programs have been hampered. Palestinian factions denied connection to the bombing but four gunmen of the militant coalition group, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), were held in jail for several months before being put on trial. The four PRC men were acquitted by a Palestinian court but Arafat overruled the judge's decision. Militants from the group stormed the prison in April and freed three of their captives.
That worked well, didn't it?
The security situation in Gaza has been further complicated by a power struggle among armed groups of snuffies ahead of Israel's pullout from the territory it has occupied since the 1967 Middle East war. Moussa Arafat's appointment in July enraged groups that have challenged the Palestinian old guard in the name of anti-corruption reforms, accusing the current leadership of incompetence and failing to win an independent state. Moussa Arafat, who has a reputation as a strongman, said that he was [too] busy reorganizing the security forces to be able to end an unprecedented upsurge of internal turmoil.
He's too busy rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic...
"I am sure we will be able to control... It is a question of time," he said.
"How much time?"
"60 years oughta do it."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 11:22:34 AM ||
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"They know that we are in a very critical position and that clashing with any Palestinian party under the presence of the (Israeli) occupation is an issue that will present many problems for us," said the spy chief, a cousin of veteran leader Yasser Arafat. "The Americans have started recently to understand our position and I expect that this crisis will also be resolved," he said.
This is nothing more than buying time, hoping that after a suitable interval (preferably a long one), this whole matter will be swept under the rug and everybody will "move on".
The three American security guards were killed in an ambush in October when a bomb planted on a main road leading to Gaza City exploded under their vehicle in a diplomatic convoy. As a result, U.S. officials have been banned from visiting Gaza and U.S. aid programs have been hampered.
If these guys "can't" pick the guilty parties up, then U.S. aid programs should be more than hampered; more like DISCONTINUED. The Palestinians are nothing but hopeless basket cases, and the best course of action would be to detach ourselves from them ASAP.
Rather than calling the terrorism assault a war, Israelis reflexively adopted the misleading Palestinian term intifada--implying an unarmed civilian uprising against an armed occupation. In fact, this was a war by armed Palestinians aimed mostly at Israeli civilians and launched after Israel had agreed to end the occupation--an anti-intifada. Meanwhile, European and even American leaders were still passionately courting Arafat. In one particularly degrading episode, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright literally ran after Arafat as he stormed out of cease-fire talks in Paris in October 2000 and begged him to return to the table. Washington didn't even place Hamas and Hezbollah on its list of terrorist organizations until November 2001. Rather, most of the international community held Israel responsible for weakening Arafat and his ability to restrain terrorism. Conventional wisdom insisted that the Fatah movement was different from Hamas and that "political" Hamas was different from "military" Hamas. This is the disaster Sharon faced when he assumed the premiership in March 2001. To respond effectively, he first had to convince Israelis that negotiating under fire would only encourage terrorism and that a military solution for terrorism did indeed exist. And so, one of Sharon's first acts in office was to meet with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) general staff and demand a plan for victory. Toughness, but...
Still, he didn't immediately go to war. The Lebanon fiasco of the early '80s had taught him the danger of initiating a military campaign without the support of both the mainstream left and the U.S. administration. (By contrast, Sharon didn't waste time wooing France and other European Union countries that wouldn't support the war on terrorism no matter what Israel did.) This is the first lesson Sharon could teach democratic leaders facing a war against terrorism: Insure domestic consensus and the support of vital allies. ... intelligent distinctions between necessary allies and phony ones. And the vital importance of domestic support.
Sharon imposed on himself a regimen of single-mindedness and patience. He concentrated almost exclusively on security, leaving the country's economy and its foreign relations--with the exception of relations with the Bush administration--to other ministers. Nor did he allow himself to be distracted by divisive domestic issues like the secular-religious divide. wouldn't that be helpful here as well? What's the point of fomenting domestic divisions when we're at war?
By becoming the first Likud leader to endorse a Palestinian state, Sharon broke with his own party's ideology and recast himself as a consensus politician. And he established a national unity government with the Labor Party. He acted liked the leader of a nation at war, not a party at war. Amen. Let's hope Bush figures this out in Phase II. Biden, McCain, Hagel, George Will, WFBuckley et al must be on board this time around. Screw the Euroweenies; get your own party and moderate Dems on board. And recognize the vital importance of Russia and India in Phase II of this war.
Posted by: lex ||
09/22/2004 2:42:11 AM ||
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smoke the leadership with missiles and the cults fall apart....who'da thunk it?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2004 8:29 Comments ||
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Biden, McCain, Hagel, George Will, WFBuckley
What direction to move to get all of them? Be less divisive at home to get Biden and McCain, and you distance further from Will and Buckley. Emphasize democratization, to get McCain and maybe Buckley and Biden, and you distance further from Will and Hagel. Get less ambitious about democratization, and shift towards a kind eye to would be autocrats like Putin, but away from euros, pick up Will,maybe Buckley, but not Biden or Hagel, and probably not McCain. Make nice to the Euros to pick up Biden and Hagel, lose Buckley, Will, maybe McCain.
Frankly, while i have alot to criticize Bush about, I must sympathize with him to some degree. Its NOT just the admin that doesnt seem to be taking this seriously - the whole polity is lax in that regard. This isnt Israel. Which may have something to do with the fact that we DONT have the level of terror, the casualties, the constant attacks - or the mass conscript army with the elaborate reserve system. We're simply not endangered the way they are.
#3
Good points all, LH, and I'd certainly agree that our natural tendency is toward complacency and a soft isolationism. But leadership matters, hugely, and only Kerry's complete incoherence and the idiocies of MikeyBoy et al disguise the fact that the admin's communications strategy is floundering right now.
I also believe that less Rovian/fundamentalist politics would help significantly to build more support for the war. Stupid to push the Marriage Amendment now. Was it really necessary to piss off loyal supporters who happen not to be born-agains? I don't believe in god, and I'm as fiercely pro-war as anyone in this country. Do we really need to keep hearing the BS about how our (Bush's) religion o' peace is superior to their religion o' peace?
#4
There are plenty of strong, courageous, ferociously hawkish left-libs who could help this admin greatly in its efforts to build enduring support for the long twilight struggle: Hitchens, Paul Berman, even the pro-war French socialist intellectuals and pols like Bernard Kouchner of Medecins Sana Frontieres and Bernard Henri-Levy.
Wouldn't it have been smarter to tone down the kulturkampf stuff and reach out to these influential and tireless advocates of an unstinting war against jihadist fascism?
#7
did you see the TNR piece on liberal hawks taking another look at the Iraq war? - they had Hitch, Berman, and a couple of others. A couple had retreated, Hitch was firm, and Berman was nuanced.
#8
Yes, but I wasn't persuaded by the retreaters. One of the great defects of liberal thinking is the belief that one can make decisions based on complete, and completely accurate, information. Typical of an academic or journalist. Anyone with practical experience of governing or management knows that one never has enough info or sufficient time to thoroughly evaluate that info. In practical life, most decisions are judgment calls.
#9
I also believe that less Rovian/fundamentalist politics would help significantly to build more support for the war. Stupid to push the Marriage Amendment now. Was it really necessary to piss off loyal supporters who happen not to be born-agains? I don't believe in god, and I'm as fiercely pro-war as anyone in this country. Do we really need to keep hearing the BS about how our (Bush's) religion o' peace is superior to their religion o' peace?
Bravo, superbly well said, lex. I continue to maintain that this administration's overemphasis upon religiosity has not only served (inadvertently or not) to confirm terrorist claims of an American "Crusade" against the Arabs, but has also placed the United States in greater danger by painting it as a Christian nation.
It is this constant overstressing of religion that cripples our ability to begin identifying Islam in general, and Salafist Wahhabism specifically, as a political ideology and not a religion. Without highlighting this critical militant agenda contained within Islamic doctrine, the war on terrorism will always be susceptible to being painted as a clash of religions instead of the proper extermination of violent mass murdering radicals that it really is.
These are the days of the open hand
They will not be the last
Look around now
These are the days of the beggars and the choosers
This is the year of the hungry man
Whose place is in the past
Hand in hand with ignorance
And legitimate excuses
The rich declare themselves poor
And most of us are not sure
If we have too much
But we'll take our chances
'Cause God's stopped keeping score
I guess somewhere along the way
He must have let us all out to play
Turned his back and all God's children
Crept out the back door
And it's hard to love, there's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope
When there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above say it's much too much too late
Well maybe we should all be praying for time
These are the days of the empty hand
Oh you hold on to what you can
And charity is a coat you wear twice a year
This is the year of the guilty man
Your television takes a stand
And you find that what was over there is over here
So you scream from behind your door
Say what's mine is mine and not yours
I may have too much but I'll take my chances
'Cause God's stopped keeping score
And you cling to the things they sold you
Did you cover your eyes when they told you
That he can't come back
'Cause he has no children to come back for
It's hard to love there's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope when there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above say it's much too late
So maybe we should all be praying for time
Two dozen U.S. Marines are currently giving anti-terrorism training to Niger's army to protect the West African nation's large desert areas from becoming transit areas for terrorists. Niger is the last stop for the four-country, $8 million U.S. exercises, previously held in Mali, Mauritania and Chad. Soldiers seem to welcome the training, but as VOA's Nico Colombant reports from the Tondibiah military camp in southern Niger, ordinary citizens and human rights activists appear more skeptical.
Marines bark orders, as teams of two Nigerien soldiers fire machine guns at the sniper range of the Tondibiah camp on the outskirts of Niamey.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/22/2004 2:16:42 AM ||
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Interesting article.
"Some suggested more intelligence was needed instead."
That's very perceptive of them. Although I always wonder about "some". What a cop out word.
"If there are terrorists in the north of Niger Republic, the answer could not be the violence, could not be the weapons, but the soft power, the negotiations, the dialogue, thatâs the best way,"
The guy quoted doesn't quite understand what's really behind "soft power". Sounds like the French concept. Not very useful in the real world.
#2
One shopkeeper, Maman Iro, says he fears that if Nigerâs military becomes too strong, it might unleash a crackdown on Islamist activists like himself.
Which is exactly what I want to happen.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
09/22/2004 11:43 Comments ||
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It was a good article, but I had to smile at the "too strong" observation. The training was to last seven weeks. That's barely enough time to make the Niger troops' skills 'adequate' and if they don't keep it up, their skills will deteriorate. Then again, any move toward improvement is good.
As for the intelligence portion, I suspect that'll be done as well, but not made public.
#4
--That's barely enough time to make the Niger troops' skills 'adequate' and if they don't keep it up, their skills will deteriorate. Then again, any move toward improvement is good.--
The Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is due to hold talks expected to focus on fighting terrorism with US President George W Bush. President Musharraf told the BBC that his government was playing a leading role in the fight against terrorism, especially the al-Qaeda network.
That's a good thing, since its headquarters is in Pakland...
Mr Musharraf will also deliver a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. On Friday he will meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It is the first meeting between the two since Mr Singh's Congress-led coalition government took office in May. The two South Asian leaders are among about 100 heads of state and government attending the General Assembly. President Musharraf told the BBC that he hoped to develop a good relationship with the new Indian prime minister.
Correspondents say that President Musharraf has spent his time in the United States so far promoting his favourite theme - enlightened moderation in the Muslim world. This means dedication to Islam but not fanaticism and exclusion of other faiths and other countries. The BBC's Paul Anderson in Islamabad says President Musharraf is likely to develop the idea during his address to the General Assembly. The Pakistani President has said he is trying to move Pakistan away from a "culture" of extremism. "This was a culture, a society which was moving towards extremism and fundamentalism, and I am trying to reverse this trend and give voice to the vast majority of Pakistanis who are moderates," he told The New York Times.
KABUL: President Hamid Karzai's chief rival in Afghanistan's first presidential election on Tuesday denied cutting a deal with Karzai and said he was staying in the race. Yunus Qanooni, Karzai's former education minister, stepped down in July to run against him. He has been involved with talks with Karzai in recent days, with the president publicly calling on him to rejoin his government in the next administration. "Over the past few days there have been discussions ongoing between Mr Karzai and some of our friends," Qanooni told reporters after reading his election manifesto in Kabul. "There were calls for us to reach to an agreement with Mr Karzai — we discussed this matter with the people of Afghanistan but we did not get a positive answer from the people,," he said. "Therefore, there is no any agreement or protocol between me and Mr Karzai," he said, adding he would continue to run in the October 9 election. He said the negotiations were mainly carried out by Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, who has declared his support for Qanooni in the polls. Karzai, front-runner among the 18 candidates in the presidential race, has made overtures to his election rival.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 12:48:32 AM ||
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Actually, I think they mean "proscription"...
Egypt's ruling party opened its annual conference on Tuesday with plans to speed up reforms to avoid having a US prescription imposed on it under Washington's vision of a democratic Greater Middle East. President Hosni Mubarak has regularly spoken out against external recipes for change being imposed on countries with other cultures, while the US is pushing for sweeping democratic and economic reforms across a region stretching from North Africa to Pakistan. And the United States provides Egypt with an annual handout of around 1.9 billion dollars, making it the biggest beneficiary of US aid in the Middle East after Iraq and Israel. On the fringe of the conference, the National Democratic Party (NDP) has invited ambassadors and representatives of several foreign political parties to a debate Tuesday night on the party's "new politics". The "new" theme dominates the conference itself, focusing on a 19-point citizens' charter which does not, however, take in the opposition parties' demands for "institutional reform". According to the party draft, the charter will outlaw torture, guarantee private property and free economic activity, and state the major public freedoms, the right to education, health, work, social protection, freedom of opinion, expression and religious belief. It also guarantees freedom to vote, to form parties and trade unions, as well as the right to privacy.
Further evidence that we're not seeing — or perhaps comprehending — all that's going on in the behind-the-scenes diplo war. If anything comes of it, this could be Powell's second takedown in as many years.
Not to be cranky, but I seem to recall that the old Soviet constitution guaranteed all sorts of stuff, too.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 12:42:20 AM ||
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more syria and egypt coop. Wow...and wow again. Behind the scenes is right -
#7
I certainly hope it works out for Egypt, but...
I remember reading a book a long time ago re Nasser's regime with the following story. Nasser had a German economist come to Egypt for a few months to check the place out and put together a report on how to improve the Egyptian economy. Supposedly, upon the presentation of the report, the economist said,(paraphrase)"Mr. President, I don't know if your economy is growing or contracting, but there is nothing anybody can do about it in any case."
Posted by: chicago mike ||
09/22/2004 13:11 Comments ||
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Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Ali Awadh Asseri said on Tuesday he was confident that the two countries would jointly prevail in their war against terrorism. "Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are closely coordinating their efforts in the global war against terrorism through their interior ministries and security agencies. We will prevail one day because the Saudi government is succeeding every day in its war on terrorism," said Mr Asseri. He was addressing a press conference on Tuesday for the 74th National Day of the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is on Thursday. "It heartens me to convey to the leadership and the people of Pakistan the deep-rooted love and affection that the leadership and the people of Saudi Arabia feel for them," he said. Denying a connection between Islam and terrorism, he said terror incidents in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and in other Muslim countries prove that Islam has nothing to do with terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 12:33:34 AM ||
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The Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) discussed an inquiry report on Tuesday. The report said that many innocent people were suffering due to the Wana operation. It said that many people had been killed and their families had not been compensated. The PHCBA, after reviewing the report, condemned the military operation in South Waziristan. It said that the operation should be stopped immediately and local tribesmen compensated. The association said that the operation would create hatred against the armed forces. A three-member inquiry commission, after visiting affected areas and interviewing locals, prepared the report. The commission consisted of Muhammad Khurshid Khan, Wali Afridi and Abdul Karim Mehsud.
PHCBA Secretary General Wali Khan Afridi said that the commission met with the district bar association of Tank, lawyers, local journalists and social workers and interviewed tribesmen in Tank and adjacent areas. "We met a 15-year old boy, Noorullah, who was arrested when he was taking his injured cousin to the hospital," he said. The commission assured him of full legal support, he added. He said that thousands of innocent tribesmen had fled their homes fearing bombardment and had taken shelter in Tank and adjacent areas while some had migrated to Punjab and Karachi. "Some people have taken shelter in an abandoned Afghan refugee camp in Dera Ismail Khan," he said. He said that the commission wanted to visit Wana, but was denied permission by the political administration.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 12:31:57 AM ||
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The Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA)
Now THAT is some organization!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/22/2004 0:58 Comments ||
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High Bar for Low Lifes? Or was that an event at the Olympics?
Posted by: Capt America ||
09/22/2004 1:27 Comments ||
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India said it would not make any territorial concession in disputed Kashmir to Pakistan and denied a report that said it was ready to make changes in a ceasefire line that divides the Himalayan region. The comments came in response to a report in the latest issue of the Time magazine, which quoted an unidentified senior Indian official as saying that India was willing to "adjust" the Line of Control in Kashmir "by a matter of miles".
We don't see the details of the diplo moves going on in the background. And when one or two does leak out, there's always somebody ready to jump on it and sink it. This is probably one of those.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 12:14:44 AM ||
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Territories for Peace. Where have I heard this before?
President General Pervez Musharraf said on Monday he was a "marked" man because of Pakistan's campaign against foreign and local extremists, and this had restricted his movement.
"I never sleep in the same bed twice. I keep a .45 under my pillow. I never shake hands with people named 'Herb'. I'm on my fourth food taster..."
"But I haven't become a hermit," he said in an interview with ABC TV. "I have told them (Al Qaeda) that I don't want them in Pakistan. You will be eliminated. Either you surrender, or we eliminate you. But then they have access to our extremist lot, unfortunately, and they equip them and finance them.
"In many cases they're indistinguishable from them..."
"So, the extremist lot - a nexus between Al Qaeda and our extremists - they are the main people who are against me," said the president, who was a target of two assassination attempts last year. Gen Musharraf warned that the United States might lose the war against terrorism if it did not address "root causes" of terrorism - political disputes such as Palestine, poverty and lack of education. "We may be winning battles, but we may lose the war," he said. Poor and illiterate people who feel aggrieved because of political disputes are easy targets for indoctrination by militant groups, he said.
So we should give them money. Then they can be prosperous and illiterate people who feel aggrieved because nobody lets them be in charge. There are always lots of people who're willing to march in a parade. All you need is somebody to thump the tub.
He said the US was not popular among Pakistanis because it "abandoned" Pakistan after the Afghan war against the Soviets.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 12:05:07 AM ||
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We need a back-up plan here.
Posted by: Capt America ||
09/22/2004 4:00 Comments ||
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One thing Pakistan isn't lacking is Generals who would be happy to take over the country and more or less follow the same policies as Musharraf. But if he does get wacked, it would be better if it was after November, because there are a couple Generals at the top of the heirarchy who are more sympathetic to the Islamists who are due to retire.
But I doubt any General would stop searching for Al Qaeda at least, just as I am sure any successor would continue support for the Kashmir Jihad.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/22/2004 7:43 Comments ||
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"He said the US was not popular among Pakistanis because it âabandonedâ Pakistan after the Afghan war against the Soviets."
No, the US abandoned Afghanistan, not Pakistan. Pakistan abandoned the US when they started to support terrorists in Kashmir, put the Taliban in charge of Afghanistan, and started that idiocy of building nuclear weapons and escalating tensions in the region.
Perhaps Musharraf should stop making excuses, untie his own hands, and go to town on the tribal areas if he's afraid for his life. They can only kill you once Pervez. Do what has to be done for your country.
#4
Enough excuses Pervez, you know and we know what works in that part of the world. Raw brute power, indiscreminate power. Just hammer them until they are no more, and being in the third world, you have the luxury of cutting off all Amnesty and Red cross riffraff and that includes reporters too. Some collateral damage is nothing to bitch about. Those fuckers die any way when some one fires into the air at weddings so whats the big deal.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
